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Starting this summer means waiting...and waiting...and then waiting some more for that late August Thursday night when Texas A&M rolls into town. What a scene that will be as college & SEC football kickoff the 2014 season. It's pure excitement just thinking about hearing GAME...COCKS echoing in W-B. Plus the noise that is generated in the stadium for 2001 and Sandstorm w/ Cocky Cloths waving all around.

With that in mind, all of Gamecock Nation wants this coming season to culminate in one elusive goal: the 2014 SEC Championship title in Atlanta.

Getting to that oh-so-close level of success is going to take some great play, great coaching & our share of timely luck for USC to reach the SEC pinnacle.

Offense - Looks to have the pieces in place to put up plenty of points.
QB-Thompson should have the luxury to let our playmakers make plays. He can accept what the opposing defense gives us, and take a page from Connor Shaw in limiting turnovers from the signal caller.
RB- Davis is a stud tailback, and will get better & better w/ each carry. Wilds, Williams & Carson will also contribute in key moments and provide great depth.
WR/TE - Roland, Byrd and others make for and exciting WR corps. Anderson and Adams also provide proven depth at WR
OL - 4 of 5 returning starters. Pass blocking is the real key for the offense to click this year. Sure hope we develop some depth at the tackle position.

Defense - Losing a Clowney will get the headlines, but getting the Secondary ready for the SEC play will be high priority.
DL-The players are ready to step up and we have experience. Who will be the next guy(s) to create pressure and anchor the D-Line?
LB-This young unit only got better as last season played out, and should be the best unit on this side of the ball.
DB-Brison Williams/upperclassmen have to get the inexperienced & incoming DBs whipped into shape very quickly. Talent is there, but will it translate to the field in front of 80 to 90,000+ size SEC crowds?

Special Teams - This unit looks to be solid, save for one area--punt team. Carolina has to get someone out there punting that won't shank 1 or 2 balls almost every game. We can't afford to get up that kind of field position.

Coaching - Spurrier has a realy good staff assembled and they have brought us to a level of success we've never seen before at USC. We saw the HBC brillance of bringing in a hobbled Shaw at Mizzou. But we also saw the defensive breakdowns (on the field & sidelines) at UGA. And the whuuuuuat??moments late at Tenn...nobody's perfect, but they'll have to pretty much eliminate those instances.

Schedule - 2014 schedule is not what we had to go through in 2012. We can point to 3 to 4 games that will make or break Carolina's SEC run.
A&M - Home to open the season. Will the secondary be up to the fast-break pace of the Aggies offense (whomever their QB will be).
UGA - Home against the Dawgs. Winner will (again) set the pace in the SEC East.
at Auburn - Prob the toughest road test of the season. They have a good scheme w/ Malzahn and great home field enviroment. Can we find a way to get a win over Auburn in the SEC?
at Florida - Gators are a big question mark around the SEC. Can they bounce back at 5-7? Winning in The Swamp is always a challenge...1 win for USC in Gainesville proves this out.

This year seems to be trending Carolina's way. The SEC doesn't have the definitive powerhouse everyone is pointing to. UGA after Murray/new Def Coord. Florida hitting the reboot button. Bama doesn't look like the normal unbeatable Bama. Auburn defensive questions and minus Tre Mason. LSU is always good, but nobody knows how they'll look. A&M minus Johnny Football and will they find any defense? Even though commissioner Mike Slive won't like it, 5 or 6 teams could make a run at the SEC crown.

Gamecock Nation is ready for an SEC title...it has been since we tasted the SECCG in 2010.

Let's go get it and bring it home to Columbia!

GO COCKS!!

__________________
"I can't worry about how people remember me. Whatever I did at Duke is history, at Florida is history. We're still trying to make history at South Carolina." Head Coach Steve Spurrier - 6/7/2009

Schedule is very doable. USC should be no worse than 7-1 going into Auburn. They get a bye week before Florida and pretty much a bye week before Clemson .. Keep an eye on the 3 game stretch of @Vandy, Mizzou at home, and @Kentucky .. If USC is going to drop the one game it shouldn't, it'll happen there.

I think the offense will do its thing. It'll be up and down. We should see a lot of big plays and quick scoring bursts but also some ugly moments when Dylan gets into a funk but they should be well over 30ppg and 400 ypg for the season.

If the defense can somehow find ways to get to the QB, this team should be in Atlanta .. I just don't see it happening with the personnel we have though.

I think that the 2014 season will hinge on one name, Jadeveon Clowney. If by week 4-5 national talking heads are still talking about his absence, then we are not doing great. However, if by that same time frame, national talking heads are wondering who will follow Clowney's footsteps by being drafted at or near the overall #1 spot in the next 1 or 2 NFL drafts, then we are on our way to having a special season.

Is DT working on the arc of his throws? Was it just me that noticed that a lot of the deeper throws were high arcing throws? If so it shows he is a touch thrower so if he is off even slightly then it could be tough sledding.

So we have to keep RBs healthy to support DT. And agreed about defensive line. We don't need to be in the backfield all the time, but enough to rattle the Qbs. The opposing Qbs need to worried about our pass rush in the after Clowney era.

I got to talk to Coach Mangus for about 45 minutes back in April during spring ball. He mentioned that Thompson's arm was strong, and they were working on his delivery/getting the ball out quickly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TKE226

And agreed about defensive line. We don't need to be in the backfield all the time, but enough to rattle the Qbs. The opposing Qbs need to worried about our pass rush in the after Clowney era.

Looking at this d-line we have...especially at DE...we need a Eric Norwood type player to emerge. Someone with a chip on their shoulder who can play with a motor on each snap. Dixon, English, Harris, Cooper, Johnson, Washington...one of these guys need to hit the switch and cause havoc in the opposing team's backfield.

GO COCKS!!

__________________
"I can't worry about how people remember me. Whatever I did at Duke is history, at Florida is history. We're still trying to make history at South Carolina." Head Coach Steve Spurrier - 6/7/2009

Looking at this d-line we have...especially at DE...we need a Eric Norwood type player to emerge. Someone with a chip on their shoulder who can play with a motor on each snap. Dixon, English, Harris, Cooper, Johnson, Washington...one of these guys need to hit the switch and cause havoc in the opposing team's backfield.

GO COCKS!!

I think that guy could be BAW ...... they are going to start him out almost exclusively at the BOB position (the 4th LB in the 3-4) with his hand on the ground. They'll have the flexibility to rush the passer or stand him up in Coverage ........ almost like a modified 3-3-5.

As horrible as a 1-11 season would be, I totally agree with you! I am so sick of losing to Auburn! Be very sweet to beat them!! My sister is a huge Auburn fan, I am tired of her always rubbing it in my face when Auburn beats us!

__________________
All time Gamecock football attendance record: 18-6
Record at Williams-Brice: 18-3

I think we will really find out how good our defensive coaches are this year.

They are going to have to come up with creative ways to get to the quarterback. Offensively I think we will be fine. If the coaches can come up with a package to put consistent pressure on the QB, I think this could be a special season.

This is Dylan's last SEC start. Before the first play you can see that he's amp-ed to the max. While Coach says immediately after the game that he had no choice but to put Connor in as Dylan was overthrowing, except for the throw that sailed well over Bruce's head, it wasn't by much. And two RB ball strips and a missed 40 yard field goal didn't help things.

On a few plays you can see that the short routes are clearly open yet Dylan keeps electing for the longer throws. What was a tad alarming was the pass Dylan forced and threw while almost totally airborne.

In Dylan's post-spring-game interview (http://www.gamecocksonline.com/allaccess/?media=444363) he said that last year he played with a big play mentality, that "there has to be a big play soon or I'm not coming back in." And I take heart from what he said next that, "This year it's a different ball game. We've just got to move the chains, get first downs and we'll wind up in the end zone. And that's what we've been trying to do and I think we did a good job of it this spring."

Schedule is very doable. USC should be no worse than 7-1 going into Auburn. They get a bye week before Florida and pretty much a bye week before Clemson .. Keep an eye on the 3 game stretch of @Vandy, Mizzou at home, and @Kentucky .. If USC is going to drop the one game it shouldn't, it'll happen there.

I think the offense will do its thing. It'll be up and down. We should see a lot of big plays and quick scoring bursts but also some ugly moments when Dylan gets into a funk but they should be well over 30ppg and 400 ypg for the season.

If the defense can somehow find ways to get to the QB, this team should be in Atlanta .. I just don't see it happening with the personnel we have though.

We seem to be the flavor of the month with everyone calling for big things .

Dylan is a gunslinger. Needs to learn to checkdown, great pocket presence, but I see a lot of Blake Mitchell in him. Lets hope he has more time in the pocket, and gets better at reading the defense. If he isn't stellar and ready for UGAy, itll be the same old story, one game or one win away from ATL

This is Dylan's last SEC start. Before the first play you can see that he's amp-ed to the max. While Coach says immediately after the game that he had no choice but to put Connor in as Dylan was overthrowing, except for the throw that sailed well over Bruce's head, it wasn't by much. And two RB ball strips and a missed 40 yard field goal didn't help things.

On a few plays you can see that the short routes are clearly open yet Dylan keeps electing for the longer throws. What was a tad alarming was the pass Dylan forced and threw while almost totally airborne.

In Dylan's post-spring-game interview (http://www.gamecocksonline.com/allaccess/?media=444363) he said that last year he played with a big play mentality, that "there has to be a big play soon or I'm not coming back in." And I take heart from what he said next that, "This year it's a different ball game. We've just got to move the chains, get first downs and we'll wind up in the end zone. And that's what we've been trying to do and I think we did a good job of it this spring."

Thompson overthrew some, there were also a lot of catchable balls that were dropped, but his completion percentage was 50% only marginally worse than his career and his yards per attempt were right at his career average, he'll be fine. He actually moved the ball better than Shaw, but the guys really fed off of Shaw and chose not to suck and earn a loss for an injured qb. Spurrier can sometimes go off of what he sees a bit and then get a different take when he gets the stat sheet.